Apple, Google bid on Kodak patents: report

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

Kodak World Headquarters is pictured in Rochester, New York January 19, 2012. REUTERS/Adam Fenster

(Reuters) - Eastman Kodak, which is planning to auction 1,100 digital patents, received two bids from investor groups including Apple Inc and Google Inc of between $150 million and $250 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Bankrupt Kodak is selling the patents, which it believes could be worth $2.6 billion, in order to repay creditors. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January after failing to keep up as consumers and rivals shifted to digital photography from film photography.

A spokeswoman for the company declined to discuss the report in detail, citing court-ordered confidentiality surrounding the auction process.

“Kodak believes that speculation about the details and potential outcome of the auction is inappropriate,” spokeswoman Stefanie Goodsell said on Monday.

Bids can rise quickly in bankruptcy auctions. Nortel Networks Inc in 2011 sold its patent portfolio for $4.5 billion after initial bids came in at just $900 million.